The Australians progressed to the semis by knocking out Canadian World Champions Sarah Pavan and Melissa Humana-Paredes in a scintillating quarter-final victory.

Their Latvian opponents have been in great form, beating the tournament’s fourth seeded Brazilians Ana Patricia and Rebecca in the pool stage and dispatching the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) duo of Makroguzova and Kholomina in the round of 16 – with the ROC team the only ones to have defeated Clancy and Artacho del Solar this tournament in their Pool stage matchup. They progressed to the semi-finals after beating Canada’s Bansley and Brandie in the quarters 2-1.

The Latvians also bettered the Australians when they met less than a month ago in Gstaad Switzerland, in a tough 21-17, 17-21, 15-12 victory in the last World Tour event before the Tokyo Games.

Artacho del Solar was excited to compete on the biggest stage of her career.

“The Latvian girls are playing really well, it’s going to be another really tough match for us,” She said.

“We’re in a different mindset now than in Gstaad and in a different stage of preparation. We’ve gone through a lot in the month since to build to where we are now, we’re in a really good place, mentally, physically, emotionally and ready to take revenge. 

“The Olympics is such a long tournament and I feel we've definitely taken a step forward each game. Even our loss against the ROC it was still such an important game to get to where we are - it’s made us come back even harder and stronger, so we kind of love those moments.

“As we walk out for the semi, I'm just going to be treating it as another game. I’ll try to stay really calm and composed and just trust that all the work we’ve done has brought us here, ready for this moment and ready to leave it all out there on the sand.”

Clancy was confident if the Australians focus on their own game, they’ll be ready for the semi-final matchup.

“Latvia have beaten some of the top seeds, I think it shows the teams that go out there and are the most aggressive, are the ones that are getting the payoff in the end,” Clancy said. “They’ve earned their spot and their position all the way here, it’s going to be another battle.

“Mariafe and I are so committed to our team and just reenforcing that engagement that we have. That hasn’t changed throughout the tournament.

“Our game style that we have can beat absolutely anybody in the world. But even though we had a really great performance and we played the style of volleyball that we wanted to last night against Canada, it’s important to know tomorrow's a new day. We still have to bring that patience and that team mentality.

“For now, Mariafe and I are focusing on what we can control as a team and honing in on our performance.”

The pair are the first Australian volleyballers to reach an Olympic semi-final since both women’s and men’s pairs of Nat Cook and Nicole Sanderson and Julien Prosser and Mark Williams finished fourth in Athens 2004, and will aim to become the first Australian medallists since Cook and Kerri Pottharst’s iconic Sydney 2000 victory.

“Nat and Kerry have been two of our biggest cheerleaders,” Clancy said. “They’ve been watching our journey and helping however they can – we wouldn’t be here without their great success. We’re just so grateful we can put Australia back into the Olympic semi-finals.”

The pair know they’ll have the support of a nation behind them.

“Everyone’s so excited for us – we definitely felt the love,” Artacho said. “We’re so grateful for all the love from home and from all round the world really.”

The game will start 11am AEST on Thursday 5 August, with the gold and bronze medal games to follow on Friday 6 August. You can watch live and free on Seven and 7plus.